A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Never mention ROPE in the house of a man who has been hanged

1599 J. MINSHEU Spanish Dialogues i. A man ought not to make mention of a

halter in the house of a man that was hanged. 1620 T. SHELTON tr. Don Quixote III. xi.

why doe I name an Asse with my mouth, seeing one should not make mention of a rope in

ones house that was hanged? 1890 J. PAYN Burnt Million xxxii. Miss Grace, whom he

pictured.. as sensitive upon the matter as though if her parent had been hung she would

have been to an allusion to a rope. 1958 ‘J. S. STRANGE’ Night of Reckoning viii. Never

mention rope in the house of a man who has been hanged. 1995 Washington Times 14

July A4 Whenever he hears the very word ‘Vietnam’ shame could compel Mr. Clinton to

excuse himself. .. He should remember FDR’s famous admonition to avoid speaking of

rope in the house of a man recently hanged. tact

rope see also the man who has once been BITTEN by the snake fears every piece of rope.

No ROSE without a thorn

Cf. CLAUDIAN In Nuptias Honorii.. Fescennina iv. 10 Armat spina rosas, mella tegunt
apes, a thorn arms roses, bees conceal their honey.

1430–40 LYDGATE Bochas Prol. ix There is no rose.. in garden, but there be sum

thorne. 1579 LYLY Euphues i. 184 The sweetest Rose hath his prickel. 1603 J. FLORIO

tr. Montaigne’s Essays III. iii. 68 But no good without paines; no Roses without prickles.

1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 138 No rose without a thorn. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses Queer

the number of pins they always have. No roses without thorns. 1965 H. ACTON Old

Lamps 218 ‘But everything depends on the baby. What a bore.’ ‘No rose without a thorn,

eh?’ good and evil

roses see he who PLANTS thorns should not expect to gather roses; do not grieve that
ROSE-TREES have thorns.

Do not grieve that ROSE-TREES have thorns, rather rejoice that thorny bushes bear
roses

Arab proverb.

1965 S. RADHAKRISHNAN ‘Failure of the UN and nuclear weapons’ (on http://www.